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High blood pressure plagues many Black Americans. Combined with COVID, it’s catastrophic

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:35:12 GMT

DISTRICT HEIGHTS, Md. (AP) — Charles Thomas was unwell but he had no time for rest.He was on the cusp of a management promotion and a move to Florida to begin a new chapter that would alter his family’s financial future and break the cycle of generational poverty. Yet, as his family’s prospects improved, concerns about his health grew. A severe bout of COVID-19 left the 52-year-old weak and in recovery for weeks. His wife, Melanese Marr-Thomas, worried he was pushing himself too hard to get back in the swing of things. Charles was a big man at 6 feet tall and 300 pounds. He struggled for years to get his weight under control.Later in life, that struggle gave way to high blood pressure and a medley of medications. In a nation plagued by high blood pressure, Black people are more likely to suffer from it — and so, in the time of COVID-19, they are more likely than white people to die. It’s a stark reality. And it has played out in thousands of Black households that have lost mothers a...

Black kids face racism before they even start school. It’s driving a major mental health crisis.

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:35:12 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — To her students who need the most support, India Strother is rarely just “Ms. Strother” — she’s a family figure they call “Mom,” a trusted guide as they negotiate their teenage years.They open up to her about their dating lives. About pregnancy scares. About their fights with their parents, about the trauma they experience outside school. She keeps a mental list of those at risk of self-harm or suicide, and checks to see how they are doing. It’s just part of the job of being a counselor at any American high school. But at predominantly Black schools like the one in Columbus, Ohio, where Strother works, students’ mental health is further tested by pressures and discrimination they endure because they are Black, as well as poverty and violence in some communities that have faced years of disinvestment.“Anytime you deal with African American mental health, you’re not dealing with one thing,” Strother said. “It is several things. It is trauma that has not bee...

Black children are more likely to have asthma. A lot comes down to where they live

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:35:12 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Amid the balloons, cake and games at his best friend’s birthday party on a farm, 5-year-old Carter Manson clutched his small chest.“He just kept saying ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe,’’’ his mother, Catherine, recalled tearfully. “I picked him up and told him it was OK and to just breathe. Just breathe.”It was the first time Carter had an asthma attack in public, and the inhaler he sorely needed was in the family car. Catherine calmed her terrified son and ran to get the inhaler; only then was Carter able to breathe easily. “You say in your head as a parent that I’m going to be prepared next time,” Catherine, 39, said.“But anything can trigger them,” she said.Black children are more likely to have asthma than kids of any other race in America. They’re more likely to live near polluting plants, and in rental housing with mold and other triggers, because of racist housing laws in the nation’s past. Their asthma often is more severe and less likely...

Asian stocks mixed after more US debt talks fail to break impasse

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:35:12 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mixed Tuesday after more talks in Washington on government debt ended with no deal to avoid a potentially jarring default.Shanghai and Hong Kong declined while Tokyo and Sydney advanced. Oil prices rose.Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index edged up less than 0.1% on Monday as Congress and the White House negotiated over Republican demands to cut social programs in exchange for agreeing to raise the amount the government can borrow.“The resumption of debt ceiling negotiations spurred some hopes despite distinct risks of brinksmanship and blame-shifting,” Tan Boon Heng of Mizuho Bank said in a report.The Shanghai Composite Index sank 0.8% to 3,270.46 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 0.6% to 31,286.70. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong shed 0.3% to 19,626.06.The Kospi in Seoul advanced 0.8% to 2,576.48 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 added 0.4% to 61,963.68.New Zealand declined while Singapore and Jakarta advanced.Worries about a poten...

Donald Trump to appear by video as judge reinforces ban on attacking witnesses

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:35:12 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The judge in Donald Trump’s criminal case is holding a hybrid hearing Tuesday to make doubly sure the former president is aware of new rules barring him from using evidence to attack witnesses.Trump won’t have to show up to court for the afternoon hearing at a Manhattan courthouse, avoiding the mammoth security and logistical challenges that accompanied his arraignment last month.Instead, the Republican will be connected by video conference, with his face beamed onto courtroom TV monitors. His lawyers and prosecutors must still appear in person.Judge Juan Manuel Merchan agreed to the extra step of personally instructing Trump on the restrictions after listing them May 8 in what’s known as a protective order.Trump is allowed to speak publicly about the case, but he risks being held in contempt if he uses evidence turned over by prosecutors in the pretrial discovery process to target witnesses or others involved in the case.Trump pleaded not guilty April 4 ...

Why do so many Black women die in pregnancy? One reason: Doctors don’t take them seriously

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:35:12 GMT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Angelica Lyons knew it was dangerous for Black women to give birth in America.As a public health instructor, she taught college students about racial health disparities, including the fact that Black women in the U.S. are nearly three times more likely to die during pregnancy or delivery than any other race. Her home state of Alabama has the third-highest maternal mortality rate in the nation.Then, in 2019, it nearly happened to her.What should have been a joyous first pregnancy quickly turned into a nightmare when she began to suffer debilitating stomach pain.Her pleas for help were shrugged off, she said, and she was repeatedly sent home from the hospital. Doctors and nurses told her she was suffering from normal contractions, she said, even as her abdominal pain worsened and she began to vomit bile. Angelica said she wasn’t taken seriously until a searing pain rocketed throughout her body and her baby’s heart rate plummeted.Rushed into the operating room f...

Success coaches ‘dig a little deeper’ to help community college students

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:35:12 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — Daisy Donjuan’s family never saw the value in college. After graduating from high school, she did what was expected of her — dropped education, worked and pitched in at home.When she enrolled in Dallas College after a five-year break in school, she had to navigate a dizzying array of options and decisions as she sought a career outside of retail management.With the help of a success coach, Donjuan created a plan to graduate through the college’s paralegal program. She avoided taking classes that didn’t advance her goals and stayed on top of coursework.“It felt good, the fact that someone is actually checking up on you and that they’re keeping up with you,” Donjuan, 24, said. “They actually care about us succeeding.”Amid declines in enrollment in community colleges nationally and low completion rates, Dallas College invested nearly three years ago in hiring counselors who take a more hands-on approach to advising. The program pairs students with success coaches to navig...

‘Leap of faith:’ Alaska pursues carbon offset market while embracing oil

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:35:12 GMT

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska’s push to become a bigger player in the clean energy market is in the spotlight this week at a conference convened by its Republican governor, even as the state continues to embrace new fossil fuel production, including the controversial Willow oil project on the petroleum-rich North Slope.Gov. Mike Dunleavy successfully pushed through the legislature a bill he is expected to sign Tuesday that would allow the oil-reliant state to cash in on the sale of so-called carbon credits to companies looking to offset their carbon emissions. Projects could include credits for improving a forest’s health through thinning or by allowing trees to grow bigger, thereby increasing a forest’s potential to hold carbon.Lawmakers cast the bill as allowing Alaska to have the best of both worlds — continuing to permit oil drilling, mining and timber activities while also stepping into the potentially lucrative market for sequestering carbon dioxide. But some watching Ala...

Kiszla: On night Nuggets earn first-ever trip to the NBA Finals, Kroenke quotes center Nikola Jokic: “We got a chance, to do something nice.”

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:35:12 GMT

LOS ANGELES — On the glorious night when the Nuggets ended a tortuous 47-year wait to earn their first invitation to the NBA Finals, team owner Stan Kroenke admired the 17 championship banners hanging in the rafters of the arena where the Lakers have long ruled.His dream? For Denver to be second to nobody, not even King LeBron James, in the pro basketball world.“We’ve got work to do,” Kroenke told me Monday. “But this is a nice start. All those championships? That’s what you work for and strive for.”Nuggets center Nikola Jokic came through in the clutch like the real MVP. With a driving layup, he hit the winning basket in a 113-111 victory to eliminate James and the Lakers, then was serenaded on L.A.’s home floor with fans that loudly chanted: “Let’s go Nuggets!”This basketball team is writing a history that many diehards in Denver never dreamed was possible. And the Nuggets aren’t done yet. They now await the w...

Mountain Vista beats Valor Christian for Class 5A boys lacrosse title, 10-8, giving Golden Eagles second crown in last three years

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:35:12 GMT

After losing in the state championship last year, Mountain Vista wasn’t going to be denied the title Monday evening at Peter Barton Stadium.The Golden Eagles rallied to defeat Valor Christian, 10-8, in an all-Highlands Ranch Class 5A championship and a rematch of Mountain Vista’s overtime win in the title game two years ago. Senior Joel Palasz led Mountain Vista with five goals.“We had huge motivation from last year,” Palasz said. “Losing that game (to Arapahoe), that was terrible. We thought about it for a long time, we made adjustments, we put the right pieces in the right places. It feels amazing to be at the top of the mountain, and we were determined to get here.”Valor Christian controlled the tempo early, jumping out to a 4-1 first-quarter lead. But Mountain Vista started chipping away in the second quarter. After Mountain Vista senior Dawson Long and Valor Christian freshman Christian Eframo traded goals to make it 5-2, the Golden Eagles grabbed ...